We went to the doctor today for our 20 week ultrasound. I love ultrasounds, I could look at him all day long! I love seeing his little legs curled up, then stretching out. He looked a lot more cramped than the last time we saw him! I love seeing his little hands and feet, I love to see his heart beating and to hear it!

He is growing so much! 13 oz!! He is in the 78th percentile, so that means he is a little bigger than average! We saw the nurse practitioner today, who we love. She said that he is a perfect baby! My uterus is measuring 20 cm, exactly like it should. They grade your placenta on a scale of 0-4, with 0 being perfect, and I am a 0! I am so thankful for a healthy report for baby Shepherd! Thank you, Lord for answered prayers.

Here is my 20 week update:

Size of baby: Shep is 13oz and approximately 7 inches long. He is about the size of a banana!

Maternity clothes: Still not officially wearing maternity clothes. I literally wear leggings every day and I have gone up a size in them.

Sleep: Sleep has been an issue lately. I cannot get comfortable in any position, and I wake up really easily. They say I am supposed to be laying on my side and not my back, and obviously not my stomach. But the only way I'm somewhat comfortable is on my back. We are going to buy me a pregnancy pillow and see if that helps!

Cravings: Chocolate. I honestly have never liked chocolate, I've preferred salty foods over sweets, but now I love chocolate! Especially mint chocolate kisses that only come out during the holidays. I don't know if thats good or bad! Maybe I should stock up!

Symptoms: I literally can't be around meat. The thought of meat makes me want to go vomit right now! Even though I'm in the 2nd trimester, I threw up the other day after I ate some ham and now the thought of meat makes me sick!! Also, my hormones are a little out of whack, I've been kind of anxious and on edge this week and I'm usually not like that so I'm blaming it on hormones!

Weight gain: I've gained 10 lbs. Right on track, thank goodness. I was nervous being weighed today right after Christmas!

My friend emailed me this article from Relevant magazine. I highly highly highly recommend reading it. It sums up everything I think is important in life, in a much more eloquent way than I would ever come up with.

The article is called 11 Things to Know at 25(ish)

Here is a summary of the 11:

1. You have time to find a job you love.
"When I was 25, I was in my 3rd job in as many years. I was frustrated at the end of the 3rd year because I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do next. I didn't feel like I'd found my place yet. I met with my boss, I told him how anxious I was about finding the one perfect job for me, and quick. He asked me how old I was, and when I told him 25, he told me I couldn't complain to him about finding the right job until I was 32. In his opinion, it takes about 10 years after college to find the right fit, and anyone who finds it earlier than that is just plain lucky. So use every bit of your 10 years: try things, take classes, start over."

2. Get out of debt and stay out of debt.
"Don't miss out on a great adventure God calls you to because you've been careless about debt."

3. Don't rush dating and marriage.
"Time is on your side."

4. Give your best to friends and family.
"Make and effort to invest in friendships that are important to you. Loyalty is no small thing, especially in a season in which so many other things are shifting."

5. Get some counseling.
"We generally trust medical doctors to heal us from physical ailments. We can and should trust counselors and therapists to help us resolve emotional and psychological issues. Faith and counseling aren't at odds with each other. Spiritual growth and emotional health are both part of God's desire for us."

6. Seek out a mentor.
"The best way to find a mentor is to ask."

7. Be a part of a church.

"Decide you're going to be a person who grows, who seeks your own faith, who lives with intention."

8. Find a rhythm for spiritual disciplines.

"In addition to my daily prayer time, I found I lived better if once a month I took the time to pray, read, rest and write, to ask myself about the choices I'd made in the past month and to ask for God's guidance in the month to come."

9. Volunteer.
"Give of your time and energy to make the world better in a way that doesn't benefit you directly."

10. Feed yourself and the people you love.
"Make time for the table and you'll find it to be more than worth it every time."

11. Don't get stuck."This is the thing: When you hit 28 or 30, everything begins to divide. You can see very clearly two kinds of people. On one side, people who have used their 20s to learn and grow, to find God and themselves and their dreams, people who know what works and what doesn't, who have pushed through to become real live adults. Then there's the other kind, who are hanging onto college, or high school even, with all their might. They've stayed in jobs they hate, because they're too scared t get another one. They've stayed with men or women who are good but not great, because they don't want to be lonely. They mean to find a church, they mean to develop intimate friendships, they mean to stop drinking like life is one big frat party. But they don't do those things, so they live in an extended adolescence, no closer to adulthood than when they graduated.Don't be like that. Don't get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming."

We have been busy pinning all types of inspiration for Shep's nursery. We plan on getting started on it after New Years.

My #1 inspiration is this picture:

I hate themes. I want something he can grow into. That rug! The wall color! Hot air balloon chandelier! Precious giraffe! I literally can't get enough.

We also like this guy, that I am pretty sure we are getting for Christmas:

Also love this alphabet wall:

We are still in conversation about what color crib to get. I say white, Joey says black. My argument is that 1. I don't like black and 2. I want to reuse the crib in the future and if we have a girl, I definitely don't like black for a girl. I like black in plenty of other areas of the house, and I've seen plenty of beautiful nurseries with black cribs, but for my nursery I like white!